Prom Queen

For those of you who wish to condemn gay and lesbian relations, shame on you. This movie, although not the greatest quality had a lot of meaning behind it which I admire and is greatly needed in today's society to teach the bigots of the world that society is changing. How long ago did we separate church from state anyway? As the story shows, the rights of every human being is the first priority ahead of the priority of the church and this is as it should be.

I would like to thank all of those that participated in this film as they helped to send a message that all people regardless of their sexual preference, are equal.

Hey there! I happened to stumble upon this page doing some research. For those of you who left comments, this is Marc. I thought I would leave some replies to the comments. I am currently attending the University of Waterloo....I'm a psychology major. My life is pretty much back to normal....except for the random event of a movie screening or something. As for that song name...I remember talking about it with someone before....but I really can't remember what it was called...haha. OH, and the guy that said I was on his MSN, message me...I don't remember your screen name, whoops. Anyways, life is good, and thanks for watching the movie, it was a blast making it happen :)

Marc Hall is an openly gay teenager in a private Cathloic high school. His conservative school requires students register beforehand any date they plan to bring to the prom. Because he wants to bring another male his request is denied. Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story portrays his struggle to take his boyfriend to the senior prom and the legal, emotional, ethical, and personal issues this journey entails.

With that plot summary out of the way, this movie really typifies the poor standards for film in the gay genre. It was made for TV release so I'm trying to take that into consideration, but with every turn there is another cinematic pothole to fall into. Like too many other gay themed movies, Prom Queen has all the hallmarks of bad storytelling. If this were made back in the 80's then perhaps it would have been more acceptable as in those days anything that touched on homosexual topics, especially in a positive light, was treasured by the gay community because there was so little out there on the subject. But now the bar has been considerably raised and movies such as Prom Queen only drag the gay genre down and further the idea that because a movie is on a gay subject it shouldn't be held to the same light as a mainstream film that we'd expect more from.

The most glaringly obvious mistake of this film was that it largely trivialized the subject matter. While they could have gone the very dignified and professional route of analyzing issues of religion (since Marc Hall attended a Catholic school), teenage homophobia, educational homophobia, general intolerance of gays by society, and various other issues, they instead opted to make this a light-hearted inspirational movie apparently aimed at gay teenagers (the American Pie type subplots, like the three straight boys trying to book a hotel room for prom night, gave a clear indication of the audience they hoped to appeal to). Some of the aforementioned topics were touched on, but only in a very superficial manner and with 2-dimensional characters that formed very dichotomous themes, such as the Catholics being the bad guys and the pro-gay individuals being the good guys. I'm not Catholic but I'm open-minded enough to know that a good movie on what should be a serious topic should portray the struggles of both sides of an argument and not dehumanize/marginalize either party.

The irony of this movie is that it's based on a true story and yet is completely unrealistic. In real life there was little support from any of the straight students, no inspiring rally by the student body around Marc Hall, no students running through the school with rainbow flags, and no heartfelt limousine scene to carriage the boyfriends away. This story was dowsed in fairy dust and veers far away from what really happened in all but the most basic details.

Additionally, the acting was mediocre (at best), though as previously mentioned this was a made for TV movie so you can't really expect Oscar winning performances. One element of Prom Queen that no one else has commented on is the CGI added eye twinkle that the characters get when they have overcome a milestone or come to some important realization (and the accompanying tinkerbelle chime). Why was this included? It's at best unneeded and amateurish and at worst insulting to the viewer as it attempts to spell out the fact that a character has had a revelation or turning point.

The user 'directsci' on here commented that, "The gay boyfriends did not look gay in any way. They were both heterosexual actors playing gay roles." Aside from this comment being insulting (most gay people do not "look gay"), it's also inaccurate. The actor that plays Marc Hall is Aaron Ashmore, who is gay in real life (he is an out actor and I've also seen him at various Los Angeles gay establishments). His twin brother, Shawn Ashmore, is straight in real life and plays Iceman in the popular X-Men movie trilogy.

I also have to comment on something else that same user said: "They were masculine and extremely good-looking. Most people in general are average looking. I know that it's wrong to stereotype, but most gay males have feminine qualities." Yes, Directsci, it is wrong to stereotype when you have no idea what you're talking about. First, I didn't find any of the actors that played gay characters in this movie to be extremely good-looking… perhaps average to moderately attractive at best (but to each his own on taste). Second, I don't know what your background is but it seems fairly obvious that you've had very limited contact with gay males. Most gay males are not effeminate, and you probably unwittingly know many gay people that are masculine (thus you do not know to identify them as gay). Not only are all of my gay friends masculine (enough to be completely indistinguishable from straight males in casual conversation), but at the many gay establishments in my city I've found effeminate males to be the minority of the crowd. So please don't assert points that you have no backing for.

If you really want to see some great gay cinema that focuses on gay teenage/high school/college issues then I highly suggest Edge of Seventeen, Get Real (1998), Sommersturm, Denied (2004), and to a lesser extent The History Boys. I also recommend Torch Song Trilogy (1988) and Longtime Companion simply because they're good gay themed movies (though not teen related) and The Celluloid Closet as a wonderful documentary on the history of homosexuals in cinema.

I put this movie as a 10. it really depends on your taste in GLBT movies. If you are all for the sex, then yes, this show was awful. I personally enjoyed the story. This movie reaches out to ALL AGES (notice some oldies songs), and is a great learning tool. Even though this movie did not stick to the complete story, it is still enough to get you interested in what happened. The music...It gave the film a campy, fun feeling that the director was looking for. Even in the worst of times, it had the emotional aspect linking the music to marc's or anyone else's emotion. The people in marcs house...yes I would say that was a bit over stereotyping, but Church St. was portrayed accurately. And finally, the bimbo girls. If you take a look in High Schools today, you will find that a lot of this movie is exactly like school. We even have those girls at my school.

This is a great movie for enjoyment. It had me laughing and crying. Aaron Ashmore is a superb actor, and this only shows of his abilities. This movie was WELL ACTED! Oh, Jason in real life wasn't out fully also. And what happened with their fight, it was very possible. I have seen closeted relationships break-up because of moving too fast, in what case Marc and Jason were. This is a great movie to watch whenever you are feeling down and need inspiration. "An after school feel-good movie"

Oh, by the way, The Hall Family loved the movie.

PROM QUEEN succeeds not only because it is a controversial subject based on a true incident, but because of the light touch director John L'Ecuyer adds to the dimension of storytelling. Writers Michael MacLennan and Kent Staines have pieced together the facts from a now famous 'hearing' in Quebec concerning one teenage boy's challenging the Catholic Church school policies about sexual preferences in preventing him from attending a high school Prom and have fleshed out the characters to make the story not only meaningfully important but also entertaining.

Marc Hall (Aaron Ashmore) is a fun-loving, blue-haired gay lad who has a partner Jason (Mac Fyfe) and is comfortable in a semi-closeted way, and who attends a Catholic high school in Quebec. He is fortunate to have a band of accepting and supporting friends like Beau (eye candy actor Trevor Blumas) and Carly (Tamara Hope) among others who encourage Marc to bring his boyfriend to the upcoming Prom. The school officials - principal and school board - are adamant that the Catholic Church regards sames sex relationships as sin and refuse to allow Marc to consider attending the Prom with Jason.

Marc decides to 'come out' to his parents Emily (Marie Tifo) and Audy (Jean Pierre Bergeron) and they warmly assure him they have known for years ("Your hair. It's blue. And you have a poster of Celine Dion on your wall. We know.") With the support of his friends and a gay lawyer Lonnie Winn (Scott Thompson), Marc agrees to challenge the school/church stance and in a touching courtroom drama Marc pleads his case. Though due to the familiarity of the case the audience knows from the beginning that Marc Hall won his right to attend the Prom with Jason, it is in the telling that the story takes flight.

Though 'made for TV' budgetary constraints and format are obvious, PROM QUEEN boasts some fine actors and manages to bring to the screen another important hallmark in the Human Rights field. While some may avoid this film for fear of its being a 'gay movie', rest assured that the content is handled in a touching and realistic way. Recommended for all audiences, especially the teens who need to see both sides of a bit of history. Grady Harp